Hair cutting machine



v HAIR CUTTING MAGHINE Filed Nov. 1:5, 1934 2 Sheets-sheet 1 Y e I litiiiiiiiiiii n 'am l j l l I A Tra-5 Dec. 17, 1940. E, Q BERG A2,225,581

` .HAIR CUTTING MACHINE y 1 Filed New?. 13,1934 sheets-sheet INVENTOR..EM/1. 6'. 51E/fa Patented Dec. l17, 1940 PATENT oFF-ICE HAIR. CUTTINGMACHINE Emil G. Berg, Erie, Pa., assigner of one-twentieth to Edmund J.Te Pas, Cleveland, Ohio; Coletta A. Te Pas administratrix oi' saidEdmund J. Te

Pas, deceased Application November 13, 1934, Serial No. 752,857

6 Claims.

This invention relates to hair cutting machines and it has for one ofits objects the provision of a hair cutting machine having twooppositelyV disposed cutting heads, one of which ls adapted 6 to clipoff the hair at a slight distance from the skin as is done with anordinary clipper, and the other of which is adapted to clip the hairvery closely to the skin as is done with an ordinary razor. Anotherobject of the invention relates to the provision of a small, compacthair cutting machine which may be held in the handl and manipulated inmuch the same manner as an ordinary safety razor; the device havingprovisions to perl5 mit its use with its cutting edge or handleheld atdifferent angles with respect to the surface being operated upon.

Another object of the invention relates to the provision of a shavingmachine of the type shown n which greatly reduces the number of strokesl which must be made to cut all of the hair on a given area.

Another object of the invention relates to the lprovision .of a vhaircutting machine having a 2B slotted guard plate in which the slotsextend diagonally across the guard plate, and are wider at their endsthan at their central portions. c Another object of the inventionrelates to the provision of a hair cutting machine having oppo- 80sitely disposed cutting heads formed in part by a single motor operatedcutting member.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved means forfacilitating the cleaning of the slots of a hair cutting machine of thetype shown.

Another object of the invention relates to the provision of lubricatingmeans for certain of the operating parts of a hair cutting machine.

Another object of the invention relates to the n provision of a haircutting-machine employing a cutter and a guard member and having meansfor readily separating said members forcleaning and other purposes. y

Another object of the invention relates to the provision of a haircutting machine having a handle, one part of which forms the supporting'structure for the operating parts of the machine,

the otherparts of the handle being held to the first part by concealedmeans so that no screws 50 or other fastening means are exposed to viewhen the device is assembled.

Another object of the invention relates to the provision of a haircutting machine, having oppositely disposed cutter heads with asinglecutter 5| operable therein and means for readily adjusting theclearance between the guard of the cutter head and the cutter withinvery close limits.

Another object of the invention relates to the provision of a haircutting machine having a slotted guard and slotted -cutter cooperatingtherewith, the latter being arranged and operated so that some of theguard slots are open at all times for the unimpeded admission of hair tothe slots.

A further object of the invention relates to the provision of animproved hair cutting machine which is of simple and inexpensiveconstruction, which may be successfully operated without diiliculty orpreliminary training by the ordinary person, which does not becomeoverheated during its operation and which operates with a minimum offriction so that a very small motor may be successfully used to operatethe machine.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in thenovel construction, arrangementl and combination .of parts, hereinafterillustrated and described in some of its embodiments in the accompanyingdrawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevational view of one side of theimproved hair cutting machine to which this invention relates; Figure 2is a view similar to Figure l, with4 the parts rotated 90; Figure 3 is afront elevational view of the opposite side of the machine shown inFigure 1; Figure 4' is an enlarged detail view corresponding to Figure2, with certain of the parts broken away for sake of clearness; 'Figure5 is an enlarged detail central sectional view taken on line 5-5,Flgure1; Figure 6 is anenlarged detail sectional view taken on line 6 6,Figure 2; Figure 7 is a detail sectional view taken on line l-l, Figure6.; Figure 8 is a greatly enlarged detail side elevational View of theguard and cutter of the machine; Figure 9 is a sectional view taken online 9 9, Figure 8;. Figure 10 is a plan view of the guard and cuttershown in Figure 8; and Figure 11 is an enlarged detail view showing thebushing and camslot of the cutter.

In the form of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the haircutting machine comprises a hollow casing or handle formed from mating1`sections I and 2. At the end of the handle there is carried a pair ofheads 3 and 4, the former of which is provided for shaving and thelatter for the clippingot hair. 'I'he shaving and clipping heads andhandle forma Y-shaped arrangement, as is best shown in Figure 2 of thedrawings. and by disposing the heads in the manner shown, the device maybe manipulated in much the same atv manner as an ordinary safety razor,and its successful use does not necessitate the holding of the memberwith the result that the shaving head cuts oiI the hair much closertothe skin than f does the clipping head.

The guard member of the device is formed from two bent-over parts, 6 and6, corresponding ends of which are hinged at 'l to each other. Theopposite ends of the guard members are formed with correspondingdownturned portions 8 and I0. The parts 8 are iixedly secured to thehandle part I by any suitable means such as the screws or studs II.- Arelatively stiff spring I2 is interposed between the downturned portions8 and lli of the guard members and a nut 8 carried by each of the studsII is provided for eiecting the adjustment of the slotted portions ofthe guard member with respect to a pair of slotted cutters I3 and I4 ofintegral construction.

The cutters are formed from a piece of sheet metal which is formed tothe shape shown in the drawings. The ends of the piece are disposedalongside of each other and they may be welded or otherwise secured tothe rest of the cutter, and a re-inforcing plate I5 may be welded to-such part to further increase its rigidity. The central part of thecutters is apertured for reception of a bushing I6 which is rigid withthe cutter. The bushing I6 is slotted at- I1 for reception of aneccentric pin I8 provided on one end of a stud shaft 20, the other endof which is provided with a non-circular or prismatic bore 2| forslidably receiving a similarly shaped end 22 of the shaft 23 of a motor(not shown). The welding of the cutter may be dispensed with by securingthe bushing I8, the re-inforcing plate I5 and the cutter parts toeachother by any other suitable means such asthe rivets I9.

The motor shaft 23 is annularly grooved at 24 for detachable engagementwith a spring catch- 25 carried by the end of the, stud shaft 20 andprovided for the purpose of holding the eccentric pin I8 in itsoperative position in the bushing I8. A manually operative wheel 28carried by the stud shaft 28, is provided for the starting of themotorof the device. 'I'he wheel 26 is secured to its shaft by anysuitable means such as the set screw 21, The stud shaft 20 is mounted ina bearing or bushing 28, about which the handle part I may be formedduring the cast- 4 ing thereof, or the bushing 28 may be inserted in asuitable opening provided therefor, subsequently to the formation of thehandle part l. f The handle parts I and 2 are preferablymade from oneof. the'aldehyde condensation products, which products maybe readilymolded in a variety of shapes without great difculty. A pair ofsimilarly formed spring clips 29, 29 secured to the handle part I bymeans of screws 30, 30 engage with notches 3l formed in the handle part2 and thus provide' means for holding the handle parts I and 2detachably secured to each other, This form of securement dispenses withthe use of exposed securement devices, thus en'- hancing'the appearanceof the device. Exposed l, 3, 8 and 10.

.33, 33 which also serve as hinge pins for the hinge 1 of the guardmembers 5 and 6. The ends of these pins engage with suitable notchesformed in the sides of the cover member 32, and areheld thereagainst bymeans of a U-shaped spring 34 which presses against the ends of the pins33. The cover part 82 is hollowed-out for reception of which hasportions 86 and 31 respectively, extending between the inner ends of thepins 33 in contact with the eccentric pin I8 and the bearing member I8and between the guard and cutter member to the contacting parts thereof,thus serving as a means for effectively lubricating the pin I8, the studshaft 20 and its bearing and also the contacting parts of the cuttersand their guards.

In assembling the cutter head'the nuts il` are adjustedso as to providea free yet very close particularly objectionable as it may become sogreat as to prevent the use of the device after it has been running ashort time, either by reason of the load imposed on the motor or byreason of the fact that the hot guard members cannot be held againstthe` skin of the user without great discomfort.

I The cutting" edges of the shaving and clipping heads are formed inpart by the edges at the underside of the bars 38 and 40 defining theslots a fibrous oil retaining material 35.

4I and 42 of the guards of the shaving and clipl ping headsrespectively, asbest shown in Figures The slots 4I and 42 of the guardmembers are widened at their respective ends 43 and 44 to facilitate theentry of the hairs into the slots. Becauseof the construction justmentioned, in the normal use of the device, as it is moved back andforth over the skin in a direction substantially parallel with the slotsof the outer guard member .and as the cutter head is moved in onedirection or the other, the hairs are fed into the slots at the lower orleading, relatively wide portions thereof and upon further movement ofthe cutter head in the same direction, the hairs tlndtheir way to theupper or oi' the slots are slightly-wider at the top than at the bottomand this alsoA facilitates the entry of hair into the slots. The outerfaces of the portions of the bars 38 and 40 defining the widenedportions of the slots are made :dat so as to stretch the skin before itcomes in contact with the curved cutting portion oi' the cutter heads.

Referring to Figures 8, 9 and 10 which show in detail'the guard andcutter of the device, it will be seen that the thickness of the guardmember is reduced as its center point is approached,y and the space ormid-section between the intermediate portions 46 and 41 of the crossbars44 constitutes the effective cutting area of Y the shaving head. 'I'hecorresponding portion of the clipping head while of similar shape isconsiderably thicker and its slots too are wider than thos'e of theshaving head as it is neither intended nor desired that the clippinghead cut nearly as closely to the skin as does the shaving head.Otherwise the clipping head and the shaving head are of similarconstruction as to the foregoing details.

'I'he cutters of both the shaving and clipping heads are of similarconstruction and shape, comprising rounded ends and 50 with cut-outportions defining cutter bars such as indicated by the numeral 5l forthe part of the cutter received in the shaving head. These bars extend adistance slightly beyond or below the narrowed portion of the slots ofthe guards and as they are reciprocated by the motor, they shear oil'the hairs projecting through the slots of the guards.

The supply of lubricant of the brous material 35 may be readilyreplenished by simply removing the cap 32 whereupon such material isexposed to view. Similarly, when it is desired to clean or sterilize thecutter, the cap 32 is first removed and then the wheel 26 is moveddownwardly whereupon the cutter is free for removal from the guardmember.

In the finished device, the cutting area of the slot extends a distanceof approximately threethirty secongs of an inch for both the shaving andclipping heads. The slots of the guard member of the shaving head may beof a width of eight thousandths of an inch or less and the slots of theguard member of the clipping head may be one-sixty-fourthl of an inch orwider. 'Ihe bars of the shaving head may be two thousandths of an inchthick at their center and the bars of the guard of the clipping head maybe ten thousandths of an inch thick at the center.

These dimensions may be varied somewhat from the dimensions given, forexample, the guard members could be thickened at their midpoints if theslots were made wider. The slant of the slots too may be varied from theangle shown which is preferably between two and three degrees, withoutsacrificing all of the benefits of thisform of slot construction, whichpermits the cutting of hair over a wider area for a back-andforthmovement offthe device over a given locality while at the same timefacilitating such action by providing for a shearing effect due to theangular relation of the cutting edges ofthe cutter and the guard.

The-slots of the clipping guard are shown as guard slots extendingthrough a distance somewhat less than one hundred and eighty degrees soas to reduce and prevent excess refuse collecting between theadjacent'sides of the guard and cutter member, as might occur if suchslots extended below the contacting portions of the guard and cuttermembers. 'I'he adjacent sides of the guard and cutter members, as can bebest seen in Figure 9, are spaced from each other so thateven if smallamounts of hair and the like collect here, it will not impair theoperation of the device.

The manipulation of this device does not call for any unusual skill onthe part of the user. The curved construction of the cutting facespermit the device being held at different angles without loss ofefficiency and the working faces by reason of being arranged on theangle shown with respect to the handle will be naturally presented tothe skin in proper position without holding the hand in anunnatural way.The slight recesses or channels formed between the outer edges and thecurved central part of the guards tend to stretch out the skin and tostraighten out the hairs before they reach the curved cutting part ofthe cutter heads.-

The ease with which `the device may be sterilized, cleaned and keptproperly lubricated, has' been previously pointed out. Ordinarily,however, it is not necessary to remove the cutter to clean out the guardslots. .By turning the start# ing wheel 26 so that the word open"thereon is located between the arrows on one side of the handle as shownin Figure 3, the slots of the Aguard will be found to be in openposition and device of this kind, the cutter is rapidly recipro.

cated many hundreds of times each minute and in order to cut the hair itis necessary to insert the hair in the slot of the cutter as Well as inthe slot of "the guard. With a cutter slot eight thousandths of an inchwide and with cutter bars from twenty to twenty-live thousandths of aninch wide, it is easy to see that the slots of the guard and cutter areopen or in alignment with each other only a small fraction of the time.'I'he problem here might be likened to threading of a sewing machineneedle with the machine running at high speed. If, however, the cutterslots are widened tremendously, as is here the case, the eiliciency ofoperation of the device will be found to have increased many fold andthe hairs will nd their way to th slots of the cutter Withoutdiiliculty.

In shaving with a device of the type disclosed,

the hairs are cut off in furrows of a width equal area equal to twicethe width of the guard slots The opening of the whereas if the slots hadbeen straight such cutting area would have been just one half the areastated. The diagonal arrangement of the slots of the guard and-thestraight slots of the cutter produces a shearing action when the deviceis used and the hairs are cut more closely and cleanily than would bethe case if the cutting bars or slots were parallel with each other.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the particular forms ofclipping and shaving apparatus shown and describedand the particularprocedure set forth are presented for purposes of explanation and thatvarious modifications of said apparatus and procedure can be madewithout departure from this invention as described in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

l. A hair cutting machine having a handle with a movably mounted cutterelement. supported thereon, a driving shaft Within said handle having adisengageable driving connection with said cutter element which isadapted to hold the cutter element in the machine, and a part associatedwith said driving shaft and accessible exteriorly of said handle, saidpart being axially movable and operative upon such movement todisconnect the driving shaft from said cutter element whereby the cutterelement may be removed from the machine. i

2. A shaving machine comprising, a handle, op-

positely disposed cutter heads carried by said handle including outerguard members each having a series of relatively fixed cutter bars andforming an enclosure with a passageway extending transversely of thecutter bars and cutters movably mounted in said passageway having cutterelements cooperating with said cutter bars, said handle and cutter headsbeing disposed substantially in the shape of the letter Y with thecutting portions of the device located at the ends .of the two branchesof the Y, power driving means in said handle, and means connecting saidpower driving means to said relatively mov. able cutters forreciprocating the same transversely of said fixed cutter bars.

3. A hair' cutting device comprising, a hollow guard member forming anenclosing structure having oppositely disposed slotted working facesfacing away one from the other, a cutter member slidably received insidesaid guard member, said cutter having separate and oppositely disposedworking faces with cutter elements presented to theinner surfaces of theworking faces of the guard member, and a common manually settable meansfor effecting adjustment of the working faces of said guard membertoward or from the working faces of said cutter member.

4. A hair cutting device comprising a hollow guard member havingoppositely disposed slotted working faces facing away one from theother, a cutter member slidably received inside said guard member, -saidcutter having separate and oppositely disposed working faces presentedto the inner surfaces of the working faces of the guard member, andmeans for simultaneously shifting the working faces of said guard memberwith respect to the working faces of said cutter member for adjustingthe contact pressure therebetween.

5. A device of the class described comprising, a relatively fixed outer.cutter element and an associated inner cutter element movably mountedtherein, and means including a displaceable member for driving saidinner cutter element and for maintaining the same' in place in saidouter cutter element operative upon displacement of said displaceablemember for freeing said inner cutter element for removal from said outercutter element with the outer cutter element in place on the device.

6. A device of the class described comprising, a hollow handle, a cutterhead carried by said handle including a relatively fixed outer cutter

